Through properly developed and executed practices, Talbot Chemicals Ltd seeks to sustain and improve its own environment and contribute to the protection of the local, national and global environments.

Talbot Chemicals Ltd has six key environmental aims:

To enhance environmental awareness among its staff and sub contractors;

in the procurement of resources;

in the design, maintenance and use of its buildings; and

by provision of information, instruction and training.

To minimise;

the consumption of resources;

the production of waste; and

harmful emissions to air, land and water

To achieve these objectives the following policies will be adopted to cover areas of key environmental importance.

1. Energy Talbot Chemicals Ltd wishes to conserve energy. It will endeavour to use the minimum quantities of energy possible in accordance with the safe and efficient operation of its heating, lighting, plant and machinery. It will continuously review its energy sources, energy forms, and energy efficiency with a view to causing least environmental impact. It will carry out a continuous programme of energy conservation by monitoring consumption and eliminating excessive or unnecessary use. It will communicate to staff and sub contractors the means by which energy may be conserved.

2. WaterTalbot Chemicals Ltd wishes to conserve water. It will endeavour to use the minimum quantities of water possible in accordance with its activities and it will ensure that the water its uses is both supplied and disposed of, in purest condition possible, meeting statutory requirements. It will carry out a continuous programme of water conservation by monitoring consumption, reducing leakage and eliminating excessive or unnecessary use. It will communicate, to staff and sub contractors, the means by which water may be conserved.

3. TransportTalbot Chemicals Ltd wishes to mitigate the harmful effects of its traffic on the environment. When travelling to and from the our premises and on company business, all staff and sub contractors will be encouraged to use public transport and will be discouraged from the single occupancy use of private vehicles. Company controlled vehicles will be operated in such a way as to minimise their impact on the environment.

4. PurchasingTalbot Chemicals Ltd wishes to conserve resources. Through its purchasing policies it will seek goods and services, which do least harm to the environment in their production, delivery and packaging use, re-use, recycling and disposal. It will seek to purchase from local or regional suppliers which will maximise the Company’s input to the local community and minimise transport. It will communicate to staff and sub contractors means by which goods and services may be purchased, with due regard to the environment.

5. Waste management Talbot Chemicals Ltd wishes to conserve resources by minimising its generation of wastes. It will do this by, in order of priority, reducing the acquisition of new materials, re-using materials, recycling existing materials and, if the former are impractical, disposal by a means which will have least impact on the environment and conforms to statutory requirements. It will communicate, to staff and sub contractors, means by which waste may be minimised.

6. Buildings Talbot Chemicals Ltd wishes to develop and operate its buildings in order to conserve resources and minimise its impact on the environment. It will ensure that the potential environmental impacts of all its building projects will be assessed and minimised. This will include, where possible, the use of building materials from sustainable sources, methods of construction which make best use of resources and designs which result in low maintenance and high energy efficiency. It will communicate, to staff and sub contractors , means by which buildings may be used and operated correctly to conserve energy and minimise waste.

7. Environmental awareness of staff and sub contractorsTalbot Chemicals Ltd wishes to promote the awareness of environmental matters amongst its staff and sub contractors. To do this it will:a. support the implementation of an environmental policy;
b. delegate environmental responsibilities to the Health and Safety Co-ordinator(s);
c. provide staff with information and training in environmental matters;
d. encourage the inclusion of environmental content within company literature.

REACH

The legislation
As many people have been made aware from recent press releases the new EU chemicals legislation, REACH, has now come into force.

The legislation has many requirements of the chemicals industry, such as:

Registering chemicals, including information on their production (or import) volumes

Performing risk assessments on each chemical, based on the toxicity data and the exposure data

Submitting the risk assessment to the EU, along with any suggested restrictions or control measures, for assessment

Communicating those control measures to downstream users of the chemicals

This will happen in a staged process but will comfortably take around 15 – 20 years to run it’s course.

The first stage, registering chemicals, is now underway. As the costs involved are so high many manufacturers (or importers) may choose not to go through the registration process.

Once this is under way then those manufacturers (or importers) will need to know how their customers are using the chemicals so they can be sure to calculate the exposure to those chemicals correctly.

It will be some time before the first chemicals have their full toxicity and exposure packages evaluated and move onto the subsequent stage of communicating the results to their customers.

Actions
Blenders of chemicals, such as Talbot Chemicals Ltd, need to ensure that the chemicals we purchase are going through the registration phase (otherwise they will be withdrawn).Talbot Chemicals Ltd can confirm this is taking place.

Purchasers of formulated products, such as Distributors, need to ensure that their suppliers are making adequate progress in dealing with this task. Since many chemicals are expected to be withdrawn from the market for economic reasons it is important to question key suppliers.

When exposure data is required it is not known how far down the supply chain manufacturers will need to go to determine how their chemicals are being used. This may involve Distributors or Users but is not of immediate concern.

When the data packages have been evaluated all Blenders, Distributors and Users of chemicals need to be prepared for controlling, analysing, and passing on a great deal of paperwork related to control measures. Logistically this will be difficult but is a number of years away.

The Directors of Talbot Chemicals Ltd enforce this policy, they do not have any financial interest in any company that either carries out animal testing, or who have a policy that contradicts that of Talbot Chemicals Ltd.